MANSFIELD – Think twice before you throw contraband over a prison fence.

The Mansfield post of the Ohio Highway Patrol has stepped up efforts to watch and catch criminals in the act.

Lt. Chad Enderby, commander of the patrol’s Mansfield post, Tuesday invited media to the patrol post at Interstate 71 and Ohio 13 to bring the issue to the public’s attention, asking people to report anyone or anything suspicious being thrown over the fences of Mansfield’s prisons — especially Richland Correctional Institution, because of its proximity to Ohio 545.

Enderby said the patrol has seen an increase of conveyances, or “fence throws,” during the past 18 months at RiCI and Mansfield Correctional Institution, on Ohio 13 and Piper Road.

Contraband primarily is drugs, tobacco and cellphones for the most part. Prime days for the majority of fence throws are Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays, Enderby said.

At MANCI, two parallel, 14-foot fences topped with razor ribbon next to the visitor/employee parking lot are a prime spot for attracting fence throws, said MANCI spokesman Scott Basquin, who showed reporters the area Tuesday.

Jennifer Gillece, the warden’s assistant at RiCI, said the fence along the prison property has several prime target spots for contraband being thrown onto the state grounds. She declined to provide the height of the fence, citing security reasons.

Since January 2013, the patrol has responded 38 times to the institutions to investigate suspicious packages or suspicious people. Some cases led to arrests on charges of illegal conveyance of weapons or prohibited items onto the grounds of a governmental facility.

The patrol is working hand-in-hand with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections and has increased perimeter patrols of the two institutions.

“We kind of thought let’s be more proactive versus reactive and address it the way we do traffic safety. We went back and looked at the number of occurrences that we responded to in terms of fence throws or conveyances,” Enderby said.

The patrol has been visible in the area to try to deter criminal activity, which can be felonies, Enderby said. Allowing residents to know the more common days of occurrences will enable the public to be more aware and helpful.

“If they know about it, they can give us a call,” he said.

Enderby said the patrol has had success in catching suspects more times than not.

“These people are typically not from the area and they are attempting to get back to the vehicle that dropped them off,” he said. “They don’t really want to have to run that far so their cars are somewhat close to the area. We typically catch them attempting to get back to that drop vehicle. ... Over two weeks ago we caught a guy. Just happened to be in the right area at the time. It was another fence throw.”

Prisons in Ohio have added extra surveillance cameras.

“These types of folks who are throwing these types of substances over are not the kind of individuals we want to have in our neighborhoods,” Enderby said. “They’re committing crimes.”

Sally Meckling of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association said security positions or posts were lost on the perimeter at MANCI in recent years, so there are fewer corrections officers on the perimeter.

“When they take away these positions, they’re putting communities at risk,” Meckling said Tuesday.

Meckling in February of this year said the union was seeing an increase in contraband smuggled into prisons by visitors.